Occurrence, distribution, and environmental risk of four categories of personal care products in the Xiangjiang River, China

The Xiangjiang River is the mother river of the Hunan Province; also, it is a stream receiving effluents from wastewater treatment plants and even sewage, providing raw water for drinking water and habitat for various kinds of aquatic organisms. Thus, the occurrence and distribution of personal care products (PCPs) in the Xiangjiang River, including seven preservatives, four anticorrosion agents, two antimicrobials, and six UV filters, were detected to evaluate their environmental risk. Of 13 detected PCPs, methyl paraben, propyl paraben, 1H-benzotriazole, 5,6-dimethyl-1H-benzotriazole, triclosan, and triclocarban were detected with a high frequency (81.4–100%), and their concentrations were up to 3173.9, 1040.4, 520.5, 15.6, 20.0, and 13.3 ng/L, respectively. Seasonal and spatial differences of the PCP distributions were observed with p < 0.05. Compared with other 37 rivers around the world, the overall pollution level of the Xiangjiang River was moderate, characterized with higher preservatives, lower anticorrosion agents and UV filters in concentration. The risk assessment revealed that methyl paraben, propyl paraben, 2-hydroxy-4-methoxybenzophenone, triclosan, and triclocarban were likely to have ecotoxicological effects on the fish, daphnias, and algae.